Page 309 - DK Eyewitness Travel - Guides Ultimate Food Journeys

LIMA PERU 307

The Best Places to
Eat Ceviche

La Mar (moderate)
Part of the expanding empire of restaurants
run by Peru’s culinary ambassador and
cordon-bleu-trained chef Gastón Acurio,
La Mar is a lunch-only, seafood-focused
destination, a cebicheria peruano (Peruvian
ceviche restaurant). The restaurant doesn’t
take reservations and the best way to secure a
table is to arrive around noon, otherwise you’re
likely to have a lengthy wait at the bar. Not that
this is a bad thing, as they produce a great
version of the pisco sour cocktail – fluffy, icy, and
just a little bit addictive – as well as tempting
snacks while you wait. There’s a whole list of
ceviche on the menu, from clásico with hot chili
pepper, tiger’s milk, and fresh fish, to tumbes –
black scallops from the north of Peru, with
octopus, mussels, calamari, and clams. Try the
degustación: a selection of five ceviche to share,
including clásico, tumbes, nikei (tuna), elegante
(mixed fish), and mistura (shellfish, salmon, and
fiercely hot green rocoto chili). There’s also
tiradito, which is like a cross between carpaccio
and sashimi: paper-fine slices of raw fish
dressed with lime and chili pepper.
Avenida La Mar 770, Miraflores, Lima;
open noon–5 PM Mon–Thu, noon–5:30 PM Fri,
11:45 AM–5:30 PM Sat–Sun;
www.lamarcebicheria.com

Also in Lima
Just down the road from La Mar, Pescados
Capitales (www.pescadoscapitales.com;
moderate) is another lunch-only seafood
destination. The name is a pun on pescados
(fish) and pecados (sins) and the menu plays
up the “deadly fins” theme: ceviche comes under
the heading pecado original (original sin), while
main courses carry names such as “vanity,”
“envy,” and “infidelity.” Ceviche at the restaurant
features lenguado (sole), octopus, mixed fish and
shellfish, and deep-sea cachema fish.

Also in Peru
The improbably named Big Ben (www.
bigbenhuanchaco.com; inexpensive) is the
oldest restaurant in the beach resort-fishing
village of Huanchaco on Peru’s northern coast.
Pick a table on the umbrella-covered terrace
upstairs with a view over the ocean and order
a fresh-off-the-boat ceviche.

Around the World
Not content with conquering Mexico, Chile,
Brazil, Panama, Colombia, and Peru, chef
Gastón Acurio has opened a La Mar (www.
lamarcebicheria.com; expensive) in San
Francisco. Located at the Embarcadero
waterfront, it serves up ceviche with a local
flavor: mahi-mahi, calamari, and octopus with
Above The Parque del Amor in Miraflores is lined with long,
undulating mosaic benches covered in quotes from Peruvian poets cilantro and yellow chili pepper marinade;
Californian halibut in a classic marinade; and ahi
Left The fresh white fish meat of ceviche is “cooked” by being tuna with Japanese cucumber, daikon, and
steeped briefly in a marinade of lime juice and chili peppers avocado in tamarind-flavored tiger’s milk.